Documents on the Jews in Crete During the 16Th Century

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Documents on the Jews in Crete During the 16Th Century Aleida PAUDICE Cambridge University DOCUMENTS ON THE JEWS IN CRETE DURING THE 16TH CENTURY RÉSUMÉ Cet article porte sur la vie des juifs en Crète au XVIe siècle, et plus particulièrement sur la famille Capsali. Je fais référence à deux sources principales: les Taqqanoth Qandiah et les documents de l’Archivio di Stato di Venezia, les Archives d’État de Venise (dans les collections Memoriali del Duca di Candia et Notai di Candia). Dans ces deux collections, beaucoup des documents conservés concernent les juifs du XIVe siècle à la fin de la domination vénitienne. Les documents fournissent une masse d’information considérable sur la communauté juive de Candie. Dans les Memoriali, on trouve des détails concernant les audiences accordées par le duc, les décisions du duc et des plaintes exprimées par des citoyens privés; la communauté juive est très présente dans ces documents, en raison de son rôle économique impor- tant. Les juifs se présentent plusieurs fois devant le duc, et, dans les documents des Memoriali del Duca di Candia, ils sont désignés de plusieurs manières: Zudei, Iudei, Università dei Giudei, Universitas Hebreorum. Les documents traitent pour la plu- part de questions économiques, de plaintes officielles, de transactions financières et de poursuites judiciaires; ils sont écrits par des notaires en italien ou en latin; cependant, il y a aussi plusieurs documents compilés en italien, en grec et en hébreu1. Dans l’appendice, je fournis la copie et la transcription de certains documents inédits des Archives d’État de Venise qui jettent une lumière nouvelle sur les relations entre les juifs de Crète, d’une part, et les autorités vénitiennes et leur fiscalité, d’autre part. ABSTRACT This article will focus on the life of the Jews in Crete during the 16th century paying special attention to the Capsali family. I will refer to two main sources: the Taqqanoth Qandiah and the documents found in Venetian State Archives (in the collections Memoriali del Duca di Candia and Notai di Candia). In both these collections, many of the conserved documents regard Jews from the 14th century to the end of Venetian rule. The documents supply a considerable amount of information on the Jewish 1. Venice, Archivio di Stato, Duca di Candia ff. 254v, 153, 286. Revue des études juives, 171 (1-2), janvier-juin 2012, pp. 103-147. doi: 10.2143/REJ.171.1.2165712 9952555255_R REJEJ_2 2012/1-2012/1-2_0 044_P Paudiceaudice.i inddndd 103103 77/08/12/08/12 10:4010:40 104 DOCUMENTS ON THE JEWS IN CRETE community of Candia. In the Memoriali, one finds details of the audiences granted by the Duke, the Duke’s decisions, and complaints made by private citizens; the Jewish community is ever present in these documents, due to its important economic role. Jews appeared several times before the Duke, and in the documents from the Memoriali del Duca di Candia they are referred to by different names: Zudei, Iudei, Università dei Giudei, Universitas Hebreorum. Most of the documents deal with economic matters, official complaints, financial transactions and lawsuits, and they are written by notaries in Italian or Latin; however, there are also several documents compiled in Italian, Greek and Hebrew.2 In the appendix I provide the copy and transcription of some unpublished documents from the State Venetian Archives which shed new light on the relations between the Jews of Crete and the Venetian authorities and their taxation system. This article will focus on the life of the Jews in Crete during the 16th cen- tury paying special attention to the Capsali family. I will refer to two main sources: the Taqqanoth Qandiah and the documents found in Venetian State Archives, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, (in the collections Memoriali del Duca di Candia and Notai di Candia). In the appendix I provide the copy and transcription of some unpublished documents from the State Venetian Archives which shed new light on the relations between the Jews of Crete and the Venetian authorities and their taxation system. Jews had been present in Crete from the middle of the 2nd century BC, when Crete was under Roman rule, but that of the Venetians is considered to be the most productive and fruitful for Jewish life. In the treaty of 1299 between Venice and the aristocratic family of the Kallergis the Jews were allowed to live wherever they wished: they constituted what Ankori calls an ‘agro-urban Jewry by financing agricultural production and exporting Cretan agricultural produce to the Mediterranean markets dwelling both in the countryside and in the cities. The situation changed in the 14th century when the Jews were forced to live separately from the rest of the population and more Jews engaged in money lending.3’ The most important source for the life of the Jews in Crete is the Taqqanot Qandiah, the regulations, ordini, terminazioni, which shaped Jewish life in Crete, dating from 1228 to the middle of the 16th century and were orga- nised by Elia Capsali, chief rabbi from 1518 to his death in 1555.4 The 2. Ibid., ff. 254v, 153, 286. 3. Z. ANKORI, “Jews and the Jewish Community in the History of Mediaeval Crete”, Second International Congress of Cretological Studies, Athens 1968, pp. 360-361 and M. GEORGOPOU- LOU, Venice’s Mediterranean Colonies. Architecture and Urbanism, Cambridge 2001, p. 193. 4. E. ARTOM and U. CASSUTO, Taqqanot Qandiah ve-Zikhronoteha, Jerusalem 1943 (here- after T. Q.). 9952555255_R REJEJ_2 2012/1-2012/1-2_0 044_P Paudiceaudice.i inddndd 104104 77/08/12/08/12 10:4010:40 DOCUMENTS ON THE JEWS IN CRETE 105 Taqqanot Qandiah provide information on the composition of the Jewish communities, how and by whom they were ruled, the activities of the Jews, their relations with other communities in other countries and how they lived their faith. Other important documents are the Memoriali del Duca di Candia and the collection Notai di Candia preserved in the Venetian State Archives.5 They are a most valuable source of information on every day life in Crete, describing the relations between Venetians, Greeks and Latins but also recording the passages of travellers and merchants from all over the Mediterranean, the sale of slaves and the arrival of new residents to the Cretan cities. In both these collections many documents are conserved regarding Jews from the 14th century to the end of Venetian rule. Besides representing an important and unpublished source on Elia Capsali’s family, these supply a considerable amount of information on the Jewish community of Candia. In the Memoriali one finds details of the audiences granted by the Duke, the Duke’s decisions, and the complaints made by private citizens. The Jewish community is ever-present in the documents due to its impor- tant economic role. Jews appear several times before the Duke and in the documents from the Memoriali del Duca di Candia they are referred to by different names: Zudei, Iudei, Università dei Giudei, Universitas Hebreorum. Most of the documents deal with economic matters, official complaints, financial transactions, and lawsuits and they are written by notaries in Italian or Latin; however, there are also several documents compiled in Italian, Greek and Hebrew.6 From the Taqqanot Qandiah we learn that there were four Jewish com- munities in Crete: Castelnovo, Candia, Rethymnon and Castel Bonifazio.7 A fifth community, Canea/Chania, flourished after the arrival of the Venetians who founded the town in 1252.8 The biggest community was that of Candia in which there were four synagogues: the Great Synagogue, the Synagogue 5. The documents I will refer to in this article come from envelopes n. 33, 33 bis, 34, 34 bis and 35 of the Memoriali del Duca di Candia and are all dated between 1509 and 1564. On the history of the collections see M. F. TIEPOLO, “Le fonti documentarie di Candia nell’Archivio di Stato di Venezia”, Venezia e Creta. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi 1997, ed. G. ORTALLI, Venice 1998, p. 71. See also S. MCKEE, “Women under Venetian Colonial Rule Observations on Their Economic Activities”, Renaissance Quarterly, 51, 1998, p. 35. 6. Venice, Archivio di Stato, Duca di Candia, ff. 254v, 153, 286. 7. J. STARR, “Jewish life in Crete under the Rule of Venice”, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, 12, 1942, p. 60. 8. STARR, ibid. and GEORGOPOULOU, Venice’s Mediterranean Colonies (n. 1 above), pp. 202- 203. See also N. DE LANGE, “Hebrew Inscriptions in the Etz Hayym Synagogue, Chania”, Bulletin of Judaeo-Greek Studies, 25, 1999-2000, pp. 27-39. 9952555255_R REJEJ_2 2012/1-2012/1-2_0 044_P Paudiceaudice.i inddndd 105105 77/08/12/08/12 10:4010:40 106 DOCUMENTS ON THE JEWS IN CRETE of the Ashknenazi Jews, the Synagogue of the Kohanim, and the High Syna- gogue.9 In Crete the Jewish quarters were situated inside the city walls, which was unusual in the rest of Europe.10 Moreover, the Jewish quarter in Candia was situated in the north-western part of the city where the Vene- tians did not want to live due to the bad smell coming from the tanneries and the lack of fortifications.11 The Judaica, also called Zudeca, in Italian Giudecca (Jewish quarter), was avoided by the Latin population for the reasons mentioned above.12 Topographical and archaeological evidence show that during the Byzantine period the Jews occupied specific ‘quarters’ of the Cretan cities although we do not know that they were forced to live separately as it was customary in Byzantine cities, but at the end of the 14th century with the change of Venetian policy and the tightening up of the situation of the Jews on the mainland, a policy of segregation of the Jews was enforced in Crete as well.13 Nevertheless, despite their segregation in the Judaica, members of the Jewish community were free to come and go from their quarter for business and commercial reasons.14 The Jewish quarter was very densely populated and the communities were ruled by a contestabile, condostabulo, or constable15.
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